Welcome to No Fact Zone’s weekly roundup of ‘Colbert Report’ guests, created in the spirit of the oft-enjoyed Fantasy Colbert League. While we can’t start up the online version of the game again, we can make it so that you can get the information you need about the guests before they come on the show.
Just like you, we want to be it-getters before the interviews start. So we’ve compiled brief bios, issues or events that Stephen might bring up during the interview, and a fun Fract (Freedom Fact) to impress your fellow viewers during the commercial breaks. Read, enjoy, and see if you can anticipate how Stephen might nail each of the following guests!
Editor’s Note: As always, guests are subject to change.
Monday, 6/9: Phil Weiss
Author and investigative journalist Philip Weiss writes for The New York Magazine, The American Conservative, and The Nation. He wrote a book titled ‘American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps
- Fract: In early May, Weiss criticized 60 Minutes for not doing its journalistic job and questioning interviewee Stephen Colbert about his politics.
Tuesday, 6/10: Alan Rabinowitz
Zoologist Alan Rabinowitz is CEO of the conservation group Panthera, which works towards increasing the conservation of wild cat species around the world. He has written numerous articles and published several books about tigers, jaguars, and other great cats. Rabinowitz was the Executive Director of the Science and Exploration Division for the Wildlife Conservation Society before joining Panthera. His latest book, ‘Life in the Valley of Death: The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed
- Fract: The New York Times has nicknamed Rabinowitz the ‘Indiana Jones of wildlife science.’
Wednesday, 6/11: David Hadju
David Hadju is an associate professor at the Journalism School of Columbia University. He contributes to a number of publications and was the general editor of Entertainment Weekly from 1990 to 1999. His latest book is ‘The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America
- Fract: During the era described by Hadju’s book, comic books were blamed for illiteracy, blasphemy, fascism, Communism, and violent behavior in adolescents.
Thursday, 6/12: Dickson Despommier
Dr. Dickson Despommier is an infection disease ecologist who specializes in West Nile Virus epidemics in the U.S., according to his biography with the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He has established a theoretical concept he calls The Vertical Farm, which explores the idea of agricultural sustainability within cities. It’s a fascinating possibility of large buildings housing indoor farms, using skyscrapers as self-sufficient year-round ‘food production centers.’ There are a lot of advantages to making this a reality, including the fact that we need to be able to grow crops in a contained environment if we are ever to embark on extended space voyages.
- Fract: This Fract is a moment of awe, brought to you by these amazing vertical farm designs.
Ooh those vertical farms look like something out of the future. Lol. Very cool idea though!
Tonight should be interesting, especially since he questioned Stephen’s politics. We all know how “Stephen” will deal with it.
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Unfortunately for Mr. Weiss, he will be dealing with “Stephen”, and may very well get an emphatic answer to any political investigating he wants to do. I’m almost sure the same could not be said if he were speaking with Stephen. His disappointment with ’60 Minutes’ is destined to go unresolved.
I’ve VERY excited to see Dr. Despommier on the show! New York Magazine had a two page spread on these urban vertical farms sometime in the last year, and in the last few years I’ve become very interested in urban permaculture and farming. What a great way to get the word out!
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Unfortunately for Mr. Weiss, he will be dealing with “Stephen”, and may very well get an emphatic answer to any political investigating he wants to do. I’m almost sure the same could not be said if he were speaking with Stephen. His disappointment with ‘60 Minutes’ is destined to go unresolved.
I’ve VERY excited to see Dr. Despommier on the show! New York Magazine had a two page spread on these urban vertical farms sometime in the last year, and in the last few years I’ve become very interested in urban permaculture and farming. What a great way to get the word out!
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I took a gander at Weiss’s article from New York Magazine about married couples. There are some surprising observations and comments made — it’s an interesting read, albeit slightly disturbing. It would definitely make for good debate fodder, that’s for sure.
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Took a look at this article as well and found it interesting, but I don’t really buy his point of view. In fact, it made me incredibly mad. I have a feeling that “Stephen” and Stephen might take issue with this article, but the focus may be more on the Peace Corps story for the show.
However, I agree that this article would stimulate a very interesting debate!
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I’m glad I’m not alone there…
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I just read the Weiss article… fascinating. I loved it. And I will chime in (NOT for the sake of starting an argument) just to say that I am a 40ish woman who has been married twice (total of 16 yrs), and I completely agree that monogamy is over-emphasized and over-rated in this country. I wish everyone would relax about it.
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This is going to be a freakin’ sweet week for interviews. I sense it. I can almost taste it.
(Um, and certain aspects of Weiss’s article about infidelity are kind of making me want to beat the crap out of him. Just sayin’.)
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Haha. Ditto on that last comment.
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@Kinaesthesia:
The referenced Weiss article “The Affairs of Men” is in New York Magazine, not the New York Times.
(aside: I’m confused about why some folks are upset with Weiss and/or his article: he isn’t making moral judgements or statements, he’s reporting on the state of sex in marriage and the truths therein. Don’t shoot the messenger.)
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Thanks for the catch.
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